Webinar Wrap-Up: Leverage New Research Findings to Coach for Compassion

In a time marked by global stress, burnout, and disconnection, compassionate leadership is no longer a “nice-to-have” — it’s a critical business imperative. In a recent webinar, Maria Brown, Ph.D., and Christine Chasse, M.Ed. PCC, shed light on why coaching leaders to lead with compassion can be a game-changer for organizations, employees, and the bottom line. Here’s what we learned:

WHY COMPASSION MATTERS

We’re Facing an Epidemic of Unhappiness at Work

The data paints a sobering picture: most employees feel disengaged, emotionally detached, or even miserable at work. In the U.S., half of workers report feeling stressed daily, while a significant percentage feel angry or sad. With rising levels of burnout and anxiety — especially among younger generations like Gen Z — leaders must shift their approach to better support the emotional and mental well-being of their teams.

Leadership Makes a Measurable Difference

Two major studies highlighted in the webinar underscore leadership’s critical role in workplace engagement and satisfaction. One Gallup study found that 30% of team engagement variability is driven by leadership. Another revealed that a lack of trust in leaders is the top reason for job dissatisfaction among 35% of employees. The message? Leaders matter — a lot.

What Is Compassionate Leadership?

Compassionate leadership isn’t just about being “nice.” It’s a three-step process:

  • Recognize when someone is struggling
  • Empathize with what they’re going through
  • Act to help alleviate their suffering

It’s empathy in motion — leadership that doesn’t just see people’s pain, but works to reduce it.

NEW RESEARCH: WHAT NEW DATA CAN TELL US ABOUT COMPASSIONATE LEADERS

Using the LEA 360™ assessment — a robust tool that evaluates 22 leadership behaviors and 32 competencies — researchers defined a “high compassion leader” as someone who scores above average in six core competencies:

  • Fairness and equity
  • Inclusion
  • Psychological safety
  • Ethical leadership
  • Developing others
  • Managing conflict

Three Research Findings

Compassionate leaders are rare.

Out of nearly 6,000 global leaders analyzed, only 15.7% met this high compassion benchmark. Compassionate leadership is rare — and that’s where coaching comes in.

Compassionate Leaders Are More Effective

Compassion isn’t just a feel-good trait — it’s a performance driver. Compassionate leaders were rated significantly higher in overall leadership effectiveness, and they excelled in competencies that drive business results: decision-making, business acumen, credibility with senior leadership, and delivering outcomes.

Compassionate Leaders Have a Unique Behavior Profile

The study identified nine key behaviors that set compassionate leaders apart:

Five behaviors they do more than others:

  • Show empathy.
    • Leadership shift: Acknowledge your reactions and their experience.
  • Take a strategic approach.
    • Leadership shift: Let people know that you are identifying the consequences; thinking ahead and prioritizing what is most important.
  • Seek input.
    • Leadership shift: Be intentional about setting time to ask for input early and often.
  • Communicate clearly and transparently.
    • Leadership shift: Be clear and specific in your explanations and be willing to repeat your messages.
  • Prioritize collaboration and cooperation.
    • Leadership shift: Offer your help and assistance; be willing to compromise.

These behaviors require time and thought—but that’s exactly the point. Compassionate leadership is about taking the time to consider others before acting.

Four behaviors they do less than others:

  • Are less forceful or pushy.
    • Leadership shift: Be mindful of how often you debate, use forceful language, act in very assertive ways – use these more aggressive tactics only when truly necessary.
  • Work less independently (favoring team input).
    • Leadership shift: Notice how often you operate, think, decide and act without including others– balance your independence in thinking and action with more connection and collaboration.
  • Are more selective with blunt, direct feedback.
    • Leadership shift: Be aware of how blunt your feedback is; incorporate more reflective questions during feedback – make feedback a dialogue rather than a monologue.
  • Focus less on stretch goals (but still value results).
    • Leadership shift: Determine how frequently you are asking people to stretch, work harder and do more. Ensure you are not overemphasizing results over good methods and employee wellbeing.

These aren’t behaviors leaders abandon completely — they simply dial them up or down more intentionally than their peers.

And while there are nine core behavioral shifts associated with compassionate leadership, not every leader needs to work on all of them. Coaches should start by identifying which areas are most relevant for each individual, often using tools like the LEA 360 assessment, which provides multi-rater feedback on 22 key leadership behaviors.

And remember – behavior change is a dial, not a switch. Compassionate leadership isn’t about overnight transformation. It’s about dialing up the right behaviors, one step at a time. And often, working on one area can positively influence others.

By staying grounded in observation, context, and small, deliberate changes, coaches can guide leaders toward becoming more compassionate without overwhelming them.

For more much more on this topic – including a real-world case study on helping a struggling leader develop a more compassionate approach – watch the full webinar on demand now.

And read on for Q&A with our experts, Christine and Maria.

Q&A with the Experts

Q: Some people define “showing empathy” to mean expressing tender emotions (but not necessarily taking action beyond that). Other people define “showing empathy” to mean taking action that benefits someone they care about, but not necessarily being super emotionally expressive about it. How do you define “show empathy” for the purposes discussed here?

A: The LEA defines Empathy as “building strong personal bonds; being sympathetic to others’ needs and concerns; being generous and kind; attending to the wellbeing of others; showing a genuine interest in people.” While this definition could involve both expressing emotions and/or taking action, the emphasis is on expressing tender and kind emotions. – Christine

Q: If compassionate leaders don’t focus on ambitious goals as often, how do they continue to get results?

A: Video answer from Christine:

Q: How do you recommend addressing the Likert-based competency ratings since observers have to “think less” about voting in extremes or in the middle? (LEA has the exaggeration rating component. Do competency segments have something similar to help counterbalance? Is it the degree of agreement between raters or something else?)

A: This is a question we have asked ourselves and explored, especially since we understand the value of the semi-ipsative format in making participants really think through their answers when identifying which behaviors are more characteristic of a leader. While behaviors take time and energy, and it is impossible to do everything at a high level of emphasis all the time, it is possible for leaders to be highly effective in many different areas. That is because leaders are effective through their own actions and through the actions of those with whom they work. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that good leaders will be effective across more areas than would be evident in a forced choice assessment. For this reason we have chosen to use the anchored-rating format for the 32 competency measures.

We tend to see a good amount of variability in participant ratings for the competency measures. However, most participants do not use the full range of responses. For example, many select scores between 3 and 7 rather than using the full scale of 7. For this reason, we recommend measuring the participant against themself by focusing on their top and bottom competencies (i.e., where are they most effective vs. developmental opportunities).

We are working on some updates to that part of the assessment to increase the range of responses and to continue to reduce the potential for mindless responding. Stay tuned for updates in the coming months… – Maria

Q: Which of the six leadership effectiveness elements associated with compassionate leadership were most correlated to overall effectiveness?

A: What an interesting question. As you know, this study used six of the 32 competencies in the Leadership Impact questionnaire to define the High Compassion Leader. We did not look at which of the six compassionate leader compatencies are better predictors of overall leadership effectiveness in the sample of high compassion leaders. However, earlier this year, we looked at this relationship in a global sample of leaders regardless of their level of compassion. In that study we found that the two compassionate leader competencies most important for overall leadership effectiveness are Develops Others and Manages Conflict. All other competencies impacted overall leadership effectiveness to different degrees. – Maria

Q: How do you reconcile this with the “Stepping Up” research that showed that empathy should be reduced as the leader goes “up the ladder”?

A: Great question. The main thing to remember when using our research involving group comparisons is that the results indicate a higher or lower degree of emphasis. Compassionate leaders place more emphasis on empathy than less compassionate leaders, but that does not mean they spend most of their time engaging in that behavior. They are also engaging in other things that are important for effective leadership. It is possible that the most compassionate senior leaders are placing more emphasis on empathy than those who show less compassion, but still less than a highly compassionate first line manager.

Depending on a leader’s individual goals and context, I would also consider the other behaviors related to compassionate leadership. If a leader who is trying to be more compassionate is already high on empathy or simply not looking to increase it because it conflicts with another developmental goal, then they might consider turning up the dial on consensual or communication, for example. I usually take this approach of looking for alternative behaviors when there are conflicting recommendations coming from the research. – Maria

Q: I am a senior leadership and teams coach—I often find that working across sectors across the globe—polls and data are limited and narrow in their westernized definitions of what empathy, compassion, “thinking strategically” mean—there is often little or no country/community context and cultural literacy.

A: Thank you for sharing that. Working across cultures can be tricky. For us as a global assessment provider, we have to balance consistency in what is being measured, so we can combine data from participants around the world, with a sensitivity to local practices and customs around behavior. The way we approach this is by making the descriptions as neutral as possible. We describe behavior in simple terms without adding valence – none of the behavior descriptions in the questionnaire items or the dimension descriptions are inherently good or bad. When we translate questionnaires, we involve MRG network members who are familiar with the assessment and, importantly, who are native speakers of the language and know the culture at hand.

One great thing about this approach is that it allows us to run comparative research. We can measure differences in how behaviors are emphasized around the world and using the same 22 specific measures. Since there is nothing inherently good or bad about each behavior, these differences are informative without placing judgment on leaders from different regions. – Maria